I was looking on the [Wikipedia page](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_base_unit) for all of the base SI units, and was surprised to see that mole was considered a base unit.
Why is this even a unit? Shouldn’t it be a unit-less quantity? A mole isn’t length, or time, or mass, it’s just a number. Why does it need a unit if it just represents “6×10²³ of something”?
You don’t need units to say “I have 15 pencils,” so why is the mole necessary? It seems like a mole is just a scalar.
In: 10
Because we use moles to turn molecular weight into grams. The molecular weight of hydrogen is ≈1 so 1 mole of hydrogen is 1 gram. When you need to very accurately, count the amount of atoms or molecules in a substance you want to use moles.
Additionally, it’s FAR easier to say you have 1 mole of something than it is to say you have 6.022408 x 10^23.
What if you want to say you have .0081 mol of something? Translate that number to molecules, it’s hard.
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